October 17, 2008

Don't Do It, Duff!

At the end of last night's episode of Ace of Cakes, Chef Duff dropped the bomb that Charm City Cakes is expanding. To Los Angeles. What the...!? Didn't Mary Alice say no to a caller who wanted to open a branch of the bakery in Dubai?

The thing that makes the show so good is the real-life cast of cake-decorating characters at the Baltimore-based bakery. You know, Duff's friends. With an LA-based bakery, the cake decorators will be unemployed character actors using the show to audition for every casting director on the West Coast. In other words: not Duff's friends. And I have no doubt the show will become a promotional vehicle for every movie premier and award show in Hollywood. The new Harry Potter movie is opening...whip up a Diagon Alley cake! It's Oscar time...roll out the gold fondant for the Vanity Fair afterparty!

You don't want Ace of Cakes to become the next American Chopper. Don't use your bakery as a cover for a PR operation that embeds 30-minute commercials into your show. I have four words: Don't do it, Duff!